


Care and Feeding

by Narial



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Comfort Food, Gen, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine Universe, Time Travel, Warring States Period (Naruto)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narial/pseuds/Narial
Summary: The plan was tostay out of it.  Why did Sasuke have to take a leaf out of Naruto's book withMadaraof all people?
Relationships: Nara Shikako & Uchiha Madara & Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 28
Kudos: 651
Collections: Exchange no Jutsu 2020, Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection





	Care and Feeding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Efervescent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Efervescent/gifts).
  * Inspired by [In a Definite Place at a Definite Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426930) by [Pepperdoken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pepperdoken/pseuds/Pepperdoken), [VagabondDawn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VagabondDawn/pseuds/VagabondDawn), [wafflelate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/pseuds/wafflelate). 



> Inspired by In a Definite Place at a Definite Time but can definitely be read without that, just know Sasuke and Shikako found themselves in the Warring Clans Era by Madara, who thinks they're Uchiha orphans and Shikako's name is Nakano.

_You must have a plan, right?_

No, she did not have a plan. Her plan was to stay as far away as possible and hope this whole mess blew over them while they figured out how to get back.

She swallowed, looking at his hopeful and expectant gaze.

_We can’t just do nothing. He needs us. You know it too._

_What would Naruto do?_

She scowled. That’s fighting dirty and he knew it. Sasuke would get his way. He was just as stubborn as the rest of team 7 when he wanted to be, and her only counter-argument was _I’m scared, please, let’s just hide_ , which she couldn’t actually _say_ aloud without drying up. 

He’d just try to help without her, and that was no choice at all.

She didn’t have to make it _easy_ though.

~~~

Shikako hung out with Ino enough to know her way around a garden, even if she had little interest in coordinating appropriate plant meanings and flower colors or whatever. Someone looking for a message would find it a bit incongruous, but anything would be better than the current disarray. Crunchy leaves and twigs littered the paths and hid the flowerbeds. Tempting to use a wind jutsu to blow them away, but that would be rather conspicuous, and they were trying to avoid attention. And really, been there, learned _that_ dusty lesson with the police headquarters. Shikako sighed and found a broom.

Hours later the path was swept, bushes trimmed as best they could with kunai, and most of the dead plant matter cleared away. One of the stone lanterns was tipped over into her lap as she fiddled with the set-up. Her fingers fairly itched to just etch an LED seal on the inside and be done with it, but _that_ would blow their cover like an exploding note in the outhouse. Damn, she thought being a jounin meant she was done with D-ranks. Where were her genin minions? She could sense Sasuke collecting the broken foliage away from the house and setting it ablaze with a Great Fireball. At least one of them was having fun.

~~~

Madara almost walked past the house when he returned that evening. Warm light spilled down the path and the engawa shone, reflecting grids from the screen doors. Patches of the garden were dark with overturned earth, and the smell of decay he thought he’d stopped noticing was replaced with a hint of ash. Woody stems bled where they had been ruthlessly pruned back. It was obvious someone had spent several hours tending to the place, but there were no shoes at the entrance. Whoever it was, they were already gone. He shrugged and prepared for bed. The lamps would burn out eventually.

The next evening he returned slightly earlier to an absence of dust and a tray of steaming rice and roasted fish. He performed a cursory check for poisons on autopilot, then ate quickly when the results came back clean. Someone would take care of the dishes, or not. He got ready for bed and fell asleep listening to the susurrus of the wind through the eaves of the roof. 

The brother, Sasuke, _kami he could be Izuna’s twin_ , was waiting for him when he came home next. If he was here the sister was probably around too. He had yet to see one without the other, though admittedly he hadn’t seen much of them at all since he found them in the woods. Sasuke nodded from the doorway, then turned and disappeared into the house. Madara blinked, feeling curiosity break through the muffling weight clinging to his coat. A rich spicy smell permeated the front room when Madara removed his shoes. He followed it to the kitchen, where Sasuke was chopping tomatoes. Nakano was a shadow on his other side, barely glancing at him out of the corner of her eye before shifting forward so she was almost completely hidden. He stepped back and settled in another room. He could take a hint and hardly wanted to drive them away. Were they eating enough? He’d meant to look in on them but lost the thought in the endless days.

Now that he thought about it, the fish had an unfamiliar spiced rub. Where did they even find spices like that? The corners of his mouth twitched down then smoothed. It was obvious they were competent at hunting and foraging. He tried not to remember it was likely out of necessity. They’d probably cleared the garden too. Doubtful any of the clan had put them up to this when they hadn’t before. They’d somehow decided to come on their own.

He got lost in brushing out his coat and cleaning his weapons. The smooth slide of the cloth was soothing and his breaths were deep and even. He glanced up to see Izuna at the door and felt his eyes burn. But no, it was Sasuke standing there, looking at him with a cautiously blank look Izuna would never have worn around him.

“Dinner is ready.”

Madara nodded, carefully setting aside his sword and rising to follow him out. 

He was surprised to realize how hungry he was. The warm smell had mellowed into something mouthwatering and almost familiar. He turned the corner and stopped short. At the table Sasuke and Nakano sat, steam curling enticingly from the basket on the table. He hesitated for another moment but Nakano didn’t look likely to flee, so he came in and settled opposite them. She gestured for him to serve himself first. It was his house, he was probably supposed to be the host, but they had made the food, set the table, dusted so the table was even worth eating at. He removed the lid and carefully set some of the soft white dumplings on his plate. The siblings followed and the next few minutes were spent solely focused on the food. Every bite was a revelation of meat and spices. Rabbit was an unusual choice for dumplings, but they likely only had access to meat they could hunt themselves. He didn’t recognize all the ingredients and had never had much interest in cooking, but even he could recognize that these were amazing. Before he knew it the basket was empty and they all had the satisfied atmosphere of the well fed. 

He cleared his throat, “Dumplings?”.

To his surprise, Nakano answered, “Mom used to make them.” She said it without inflection, but he could fill in the blanks himself. Two siblings, learning to cook early because they only had each other, using what ingredients they could forage or hunt for. How long had the clan failed them? He needed to pull it together, the clan was _his_ responsibility now. These two seemed capable, but how long had that taken, and what about the others? He could feel warmth spread to his legs, tingle in his fingertips. For the first time in a while he actually felt like he could do this, could be what he needed to be.

Sasuke was silent beside her. That was ok though. Some wounds lasted forever, but they had each other, and it looks like they’d decided to have him too. He was strongly reminded of the Sora-Ku cats. He’d make sure they had the rest of the clan as well.


End file.
